Toy having integrally biased reciprocating components

ABSTRACT

THE SOUNDER IN A TOY GUN IS ACTUATED BY AN INERTIA MOTOR DRIVEN THROUGH A GEAR TRAIN BY A TOOTHED PORTION OF A RECIPROCATING TRIGGER. ELEMENTS OF THE GEAR TRAIN DISENGAGE WHEN THE TRIGGER IS NOT PULLED BACK. A DRIVEN CAM ON ONE OF THE GEARS OF THE TRAIN ENGAGES A RECIPROCATING CLAPPING HAMMER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED WITHIN THE HOUSING OF THE TOY GUN. BOTH THE TRIGGER AND THE RECIPROCATING HAMMER ARE BIASED TO IDLE POSITIONS BY INTEGRALLY FORMED CANTILEVER LEAF SPRINGS UNITARILY MOLDED WITH THE RESPECTIVE ELEMENTS.

March 9, 1971 LEE 3,568,359

TOY HAVING INTEGRALLY BIASED RECIPROCATING COMPONENTS Filed Aug. 14,1968 FIG-4 INVEN'IUR. NORMAN C. LEE

' mfizL K A TORNEYS United States Patent 3,568,359 TOY HAVING INTEGRALLYBIASED RECIPROCATING COMPONENTS Norman C. Lee, Rocky Mount, N.C.,assignor to Carolina Enterprises, Inc., Tarboro, NC. Filed Aug. 14,1968, Ser. No. 752,625 Int. Cl. A63h /00 US. Cl. 46-491 8 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The sounder in a toy gun is actuated by aninertia motor driven through a gear train by a toothed portion of areciprocating trigger. Elements of the gear train disengage when thetrigger is not pulled back. A driven cam on one of the gears of thetrain engages a reciprocating clapper hammer pivotally mounted withinthe housing of the toy gun. Both the. trigger and the reciprocatinghammer are biased to idle positions by integrally formed cantilever leafsprings unitarily molded with the respective elements.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION (1) Field of invention The present inventiongenerally deals with a percussion noisemaker toy.

(2) Description of the prior art Previous known percussion toys have hadpivotally mounted reciprocating components. However, these components,whatever their function, have had separate spring biasing means forreturning them to idle positions. In some devices, the biasing springwould be a torsion spring concentrically mounted about the same pivot asthe reciprocating component and biased between an abutment on the frameof the toy and an abutment on the reciprocating component. Other knownbiasing means included a coil tension spring stretched between abutmentson both the frame and the reciprocating component. Problems encounteredwith the previously known devices included the high costs of assembly ofthe many parts with separate spring elements. An assembler in aproduction line would have to manually insert each spring and connecteach end to its appropriate position. In many instances the springswould be relatively small and the assembly process would thus entailconsiderable time and expense.

A still further drawback of present construction methods is the tendencyof the spirngs to unseat themselves as partly assembled frame sectionsare aligned and fastened together.

Still another disadvantage is the tendency for the elements to unseatthemselves during operation of the toy. As the number of the movingcomponents increases so does the likelihood of failure of the toy due tothe failure of a single component.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide a toy having reciprocating spring biased components soconstructed that they are not subject to any of the foregoingdisadvantages.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a toy ofthe character described which is simple and rugged in construction andcan be easily fabricated by mass production methods.

It is another object of the invention to provide a toy of the characterdescribed wherein a pivotally mounted reciprocating element is biased toan idle position by a resilient leaf spring integrally formed with theelement so that the parts may be simply assembled without the necessityof positioning separate springs.

It is another object of the invention to provide a toy gun of thecharacter described wherein a molded percussion clapper hammer is biasedby such an integral leaf spring unitarily molded with the hammer.

It is another object of the invention to provide a toy gun of thecharacter described wherein a molded pivotally mounted trigger plate isbiased by such an integral leaf spring unitarily molded with the plate.

Other objects of the invention in part will beobvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the toy gun hereinafter described and of which the scopeof application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In general the invention is carried out by molding the element to bebiased of an elastomeric plastic in One piece with a unitary leafspring. The element is made thick enough to be stiff while the spring ismade thin enough to be resilient. Preferably the spring is of hairpinshape to obtain maximum distribution of stress and at least one end ofthe spring is joined to the element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings in whichis shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a toy gun constructed in accordance withand embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken substantially along theline 22 of FIG. 1 and showing in dot arlld dash lines a second positionassumed by the trigger p ate;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 andshowing the hammer mechanism prior to release; and

FIG. 5 is a view showing in detail an alternate embodiment of thetrigger plate mechanism, on a reduced scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to thedrawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a toy gun which embodies thepresent invention. Said gun is composed of two outer shell halves 12 and14 secured together at their peripheral flanged edges 16 by any suitablemeans such as an adhesive or a heat seal. Integrally formed with thecontour of the shell are two hand grips 18, 20, a barrel 21, a gun stock22, a trigger section 24 and a sound chamber 26, the latter simulating acartridge clip receiver.

A trigger plate 28 has unitary trunnions 30, 32 rotatably supported inbearings 34, 36 for rocking movement of the plate 28 in an arc. Thebearings are molded as parts of the shell halves and are located withinthe hollow interior of the gun defined by the shell. Abutment shoulders38, 40 prevent lateral displacement of the trigger plate 28. A fingertrigger portion 42 depends through a trigger guard opening 44 in theperipheral edges 16 for movement between a forward abutment stop 46 anda rear abutment stop 48. The forward edge of trigger plate 28 containsan arcuate toothed rack sector 50.

Pursuant to the present invention, rearwardly of the rack sector 50 acantilever leaf spring elongated biasing element 52 of oblongcross-section projects upwardly from a juncture point with the body ofthe trigger plate 28 in back of the trunnions 30, 32. The biasingelement 52 has a retroverted bend 54 formed at its upper bight portionpresenting an inverted U con-figuration. Biasing element 52 biases thetrigger plate 28 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 so thatwhen the trigger plate is idle (not pulled back by an operators finger)the finger portion 42 rests against the forward stop 46 as shown in thedot-and-dash lines of FIG. 2. The rear edge 56 of the downwardlyextending leg 57 of the biasing element 52 maintains engagement with anabutment post 58 molded with the shell half 14 located within the gun toprovide sufficient clockwise biasing force throughout the movement ofthe trigger plate 28 between the limits of rotation as defined by thestops 46 and 48.

The trigger plate 28 with its biasing element 52 is unitarily molded ofany suitable synthetic elastomeric plastic such as a butadiene (15%)modified polystyrene (85%), polypropylene, polyethylene or polyvinylchloride, for example. The plate is made sufiiciently thick, e.g.nine-hundredths of an inch and is provided with peripheral stiffeningflanges having, for example, a width of fifteen-hundredths of an inchand a breadth of onetenth of an inch, so that the plate is stiff, thatis to say, not noticeably resilient under the pressures applied inoperation. Likewise the trigger portion is made sufficiently heavy to beessentially inflexible in use. However, the leaf spring is madesufi'iciently thin, e.g. six-hundredths of an inch in the direction offlexure and without stiffening, flanges so that it is resilient. Theprovision of the retroverted bend 54 between the area of contact 56 withthe fixed abutment 58 and the body of the trigger plate 28 is preferredin order to avoid the possibility of having the cantilever element takeon a permanent set in its biased (stressed) position and thus reduce thespring efficiency.

It has been found that unitarily molded straight cantilever leaf springelements are prone to acquire a permanent set after a period ofcontinued usage. Optimum results were obtainable with the retrovertedbend being positioned intermediate the ends of the leaf spring and thusthe preferred embodiment is illustrative of such configuration. In idle(forward) position of the trigger portion the biasing element is understress forcing the said portion against the stop 46.

An alternate embodiment of the trigger plate is illustrated in FIG. 5.-In this embodiment the trigger plate 28a is substantially identical totrigger plate 28 except that the leaf spring element 52a forms a closedloop. Two retroverted bends 54a and 54b join the opposite ends of therearward edge 56a of the leaf element to the juncture points with thebody of the trigger plate. The trigger plate 28a and spring element arealso unitarily molded of any suitable elastomeric synthetic plastic andsaid plate is interchangeable with the trigger plate 28.

Concentric idler gears 60 and 62 are unitarily joined and are fixedlymounted on trunnions 64 which in turn are slidably and rotatablyreceived within supporting bearings 66 in the halves 12 and 14 fortranslational movement along a sloping arcuate path 63 defined by theextreme positions shown in the solid and dot-and-dash lines of FIG. 2,said path being concentric with the arcuate rack sector 50 of thetrigger plate 28.

Concentric driven gears 68 and 70 are unitarily joined and are fixedlymounted on trunnions 72 which in turn are rotatably supported withinbearings 74 in the halves 12, 14.

A gear 78 is mounted on trunnions 82 and is unitary with a heavy inertiawheel 80. The trunnions are journaled within bearings 84. The gear 78continually engages gear 70 in intermeshing relationship. The gear 68engages the gear 62. The rack gear sector 50, and the chain of gears 60,62, 68, 70 and 78, constitute a gear reduction train for spinning theinertia wheel 80 which acts as an inertia motor so long as it turns.

When the finger portion 42 is moved from the forward dot-and-dash lineposition to the rearward solid line position against the restoringbiasing tongue of the cantilever biasing element 52, the rack 50engaging the gear 60 causes the gears 60 and 62 to rotate clockwise asviewed in FIG. 2 and simultaneously rack 50 exerts a pressuremaintaining the trunnions 64 at their lowermost position within thearcuate path :63. The gear 62 engaging the gear 68 causes the gears 68and 70 to rotate counterclockwise (as viewed in FIG. 2). The gear 70 inengagement with the gear 78 will thus initially drive the gear 78 andthe inertia wheel 80.

When the trigger finger portion 42 reaches the rearward stop 48, thegears 60 and 62 will continue to rotate due to inertia and will climbupwardly along to the top of the rack 50 and the bearing 66 to a stopdefined by the limits of path 63 within the bearing 66. Thus the gear 62will disengage from the gear 68 thereby allowing the gear 68 and theinertia wheel to continue spinning.

When manual pressure on the trigger finger portion 42 is released, thebiasing element 52 will urge the trigger plate 28 in a clockwisedirection (as viewed in FIG. 2) about the bearings 34 and 36. When thetrigger plate 28 reaches its maximum clockwise position, the idler gears60 and 62 will remain in their uppermost position as defined by thedot-and-dash lines of FIG. 2 as there is sufiicient frictionalresistance between the bearings 66 and the trunnions 64 to prevent theidler gear 612 from reengaging the gear 68 under gravitational force aone.

When the finger element 42 is again manually pressed, the rack 50engaging the gear 60 urges it to its lowermost position and intoengagement with the gear 68.

Thus, a single pull of finger element 42 will cause the gears 68 and 70to rotate in a counterclockwise direction until the rotational energystored in the inertia wheel has been fully dissipated and repeated pullsof the finger element will both cause further driven rotation of thegears 68 and 70 and also maintain and increase rotational energy in theinertia wheel 80 insuring uninterrupted rotation of the gears 68 and 70.This type of actuation of the gear train and inertia wheel is well knownin the art and therefore will not be further detailed.

On the back face 86 of the gear 70 (FIG. 4) edge cams 88 and 90 arepositioned. These cams present two arcuate wedge shaped edges concentricwith the gear 70 and gradually sloping from surfaces flush with the face86 to sharp drops.

A clapper 91 is located Within the shell halves 12 and 14 within thesounding chamber 26. The clapper 91 consists of an elongate body mountedby trunnions 92 and rotatably supported in slots 94 forming bearings 96.Bear ings 96 project from the side wall of the shell section 14. Matingfiat abutment members project from the opposite side wall of shellsection 12 to encase the trunnions 92 within the slots 94. Abutmentshoulders 98 prevent lateral displacement of the clapper hammer 91during operation. At the lower end of the clapper body is a hammerportion 100 constructed to strike the side wall 102 of the soundingchamber 26. The upper end of the clapper body consists of a cam follower103 designed to engage the edges of the earns 88 and 90.

Pursuant to the instant invention, a cantilever leaf spring elongatedbiasing element 104 projects upwardly from the body of the clapperhammer 91. The biasing element 104 is formed with a retroverted bend 106at its upper bight portion, presenting an inverted U configuration. Therearward edge 108 of the downwardly extending leg of the biasing element104 maintains engagement with an abutment 110 formed in the shall half12 to provide a biasing force urging the clapper body in a clockwisedirection as viewed in FIG. 4. The force provided will thus urge the camfollower 102 against the edges of the cams and likewise urge the hammerportion 100 toward the side wall 102.

The clapper hammer 91 with its biasing element 104 is unitarily moldedof any suitable synthetic elastomeric plastic such as the one of whichthe trigger plate 28 is molded, the retroverted bend 106 serving thesame function as that in the trigger plate biasing element 52.

The body of the clapper hammer including the follower 103 is made thickenough, e.g. nine-hundredths of an inch thick and two-tenths of an inchwide, to ensure operational stiifness thereof despite the fact that thehammer is made from an elastomeric plastic. However, the leaf spring ismade sufliciently thin, e.g., six-hundredths of an inch, to be resilientand thereby enable it to act as a spring. Both spring elements 52, 104are essentially hairpin springs which store up energy by having theirlegs relatively moved tokether so as to both flex the legs and theretroverted bends, thereby distributing the stress sufiiciently toeliminate any tendency to assume a permanently deformed set understress.

As the rear face 86 of the gear 70 turns, the cam follower 102 will movethe clapper hammer 91 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG.4 against the bias of the spring element 104 until the follower reachesthe drops at which point the biasing element is free to sharply andforcibly rotate the clapper hammer in a clockwise direction causing itshammer head 100 to strike the side wall 102 and produce a loud retort.

Thus, by either a single or repeated pulls of the trigger finger element42, the gears 68 and 70 are caused to rotate in a counterclockwisedirection powered by both the trigger plate 28 and/or the inertia wheel80. As the gears 68 and 70 rotate, the edge cams 88 and 90 engage theclapper follower 103 through each successive half revolution causing theclapper hammer head 100 to strike the side wall 102 twice for everysingle revolution and thus produce a machine gun like sound. It will beunderstood that except for the specific construction of the biasingmeans, the construction and operation of the sounding means isconventional.

It will be seen that there has been provided a toy having reciprocatingcomponents which achieve the various objects of the invention and whichare well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention andas various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, itis to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described the present invention, there is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. A toy having a shell defining the outer configuration thereof, amember constituting in a single molded piece of a synthetic elastomericplastic a mechanical actuator and an elongate projection, said actuatorbeing thicker than said projection such that said actuator is stiff andsaid projection is resilient, said actuator being at least partiallysituated in said shell, an abutment situated within said shell, meansmounting said actuator to said shell for reciprocating movement betweenan idle and a retracted position, said projection having one endunitarily joined with said actuator and the other end of said projectionbeing free, said projection constituting a cantilever leaf springbiasing means, said elongate projection contacting said abutment at apoint distant from said point of juncture, said elongate projectionhaving a retroverted bend between said point of juncture and saidcontacting point, said elongate projection urging said actuator towardsaid idle position.

2. The toy of claim 1 wherein the means mounting said actuator comprisespivot supports.

3. The toy of claim 1 further including stop members, means mountingsaid stop members to said shell, the limits of said reciprocatingmovement being predetermined by said stop members.

4. The toy of claim 1 wherein said toy is a simulated firearm'and saidactuator is a hammer.

5. The toy of claim 1 wherein said toy is a simulated firearm and saidactuator is a trigger.

6. The toy of claim 1 further including a second member constituting ina single molded piece of a synthetic elastomeric plastic a secondmechanical actuator and a second elongate projection, said secondactuator being thicker than said second projection such that said secondactuator is stiff and said second projection is resilient, said secondactuator being mounted within said shell for movement between an idleand a retracted position, said second projection having one endunitarily joined with said second actuator and the other end of saidsecond projection being free, said second projection constituting acantilever leaf spring biasing means, a second abutment situate withinsaid shell, said second projection contacting said second abutment at apoint distant from the point of juncture of the second projection withthe second actuator to urge said second actuator toward said idleposition of said second actuator, said second projection having aretroverted bend between its point of juncture with said second actuatorand said second-named contacting point.

7. The toy of claim 6 wherein said toy is a simulated firearm, one ofsaid reciprocating actuators being a hammer and the other of saidreciprocating actuators being operable to drive said hammer.

'8. The toy of claim 1 wherein said abutment maintains a fixed positionwithin said shell.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1956 Uchill 46191X 6/1959 Ryan46175

